


Summer Time Camping

by moonxflowers



Category: Monster Girls | Monster Boys, Original Work
Genre: Camping, Cheating, Exophilia, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Forbidden Love, Interspecies Relationship(s), Romance, Slow Burn, Smut, Spider Monster, Teratophilia, drider, spider - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:36:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonxflowers/pseuds/moonxflowers
Summary: It's probably normal to feel like something is watching you from the forest as you camp.. Right?..





	1. Day 1

Honestly, who in their right mind goes camping anymore? Camping is something you do for school trips, or with your family as a lame forced vacation your parents drag you on. Camping is not something you do as a double date with your boyfriend and his friends.

...Well, OK the camping trip isn't actually that bad, in fact, the park you're at is absolutely beautiful, the site you settled down on is surrounded by lush green trees and its right on the lake, giving you your own little dock to walk out on. You had spent half the day hiking to this spot, it might have been a little past the park trails, and it's not exactly an area you are allowed to be in, but your mother had been the one to tell you about this old campground, she told you how clean the lake was in this area, and that every star in the sky is visible at night. To you, this place was totally worth breaking a few park rules.

So yeah, despite not being an outdoor person, you're excited to be here and you're loving the view. The only problem with the trip is that you would be having a lot more fun if it wasn't for your boyfriend spending all his time playing a dumb card game with his friend Levi, while Levi's girlfriend Kat spends her time ignoring you and posting the pictures you guys took on her Instagram.

When you first got here everyone talked excitedly about all the hiking, swimming, and sightseeing you guys were going to be doing, and the guys made quick work on setting up the two tents and putting together a pit for the fire so that you all could head out soon, but as soon as everything was set up everyone went on to do their own thing. This left you sitting there with your hiking boots on, waiting for everyone to join you on the plan to hike the surrendering area.

After waiting 2 hours for everyone to join, you gave up on them and packed your backpack with water, snacks, a flashlight, and a pocket knife. You slid on the backpack and walked right past your boyfriend, you gave him a look to get his attention but he didn't seem to notice you at all, neither did the other two. So you headed straight into the trees surrounding the camp, no one came to stop you, and you highly doubt they even noticed you leaving in the first place.

After wandering around for what seemed like hours, you finally sat down on a flat rock to take a break, you removed your glasses and wiped off the sweat covering your face. The sun was already starting to set and your calf's ached, you could feel blisters forming on the bottom of your feet from your boots. You weren't exactly dressed for this, your 'hiking boots' were actually brown leather dress boots, you had stolen from your boyfriend, but they had a good grip on the bottom of them, plus you thought they looked good with the blue jean skinny jeans and green thick jacket you were wearing. Yeah, that may also not be the best thing to wear on a hike, but you weren't exactly going to buy new clothes for a one-time camping trip. Hiking like this was also not the best idea since the most exercise you usually get is walking from your car to your job, but being out here, in pain, was far more fun than sitting in awkward silence back at the camp.

After having a quick dinner of jerky, trail mix, and a bottle of water you got up to start heading back to your group, you debated for a moment on which way you came from, but you quickly turned to the left and started to head back.

After about 30 minutes of walking you started to doubt that you were heading in the correct direction of your camp, but you quickly shook the thought from your head and reminded yourself that when you had sat down for your break you had set your backpack down to the left side of you to remind yourself that you came from that direction, this was just your anxiety freaking you out, and your fear of the dark making you doubt yourself. Getting lost in the argument you were having within your head, you didn't notice the spider web you walked into until you felt the soft thin web touch your face and stick to your hair. You fought the urge to flail around and locked your arms to your side, after taking a few deep calming breaths you looked down and saw a palm-sized spider sitting on the part of the web that laid over your heart. Nervous laughter bubbled in your throat, but you bit your lip to stop it from coming up.

Spiders were definitely not fear of yours, but you have never seen a spider bigger than the tip of your pinkie, and it put the fear of God in you to see something that size sitting on your chest like it was right at home. Despite that, you were going to be gentle with removing it, you didn't like to kill bugs, especially spiders since they kill the smaller, more annoying bugs. You swallowed down the lump forming in your throat and looked down into its eyes, "H-hey, so like, please don't bite me. I'm just going to put you on my hand, then put you down, OK? So you will be safe." You didn't know if you said that to comfort the spider, but considering the spider couldn't understand you, it was mostly for you.

You pushed your hand against your chest so it was in front of the spider, after a very long moment it slowly started to crawl into your palm, once it was fully in your hand you moved closer to the tree next to you and set the spider down on the branch that once held its web. "S-sorry for wreaking your home, but um, thank for not biting me?" You felt ridiculous talking to a spider, but your anxiety was starting to build up and talking was a way you calmed yourself down.

After pulling the webs out of your hair you turned around to continue walking back to the camp but realized that you weren't quite sure which way you should be heading. You looked behind you to see if anything looked familiar, but every tree, rock, and bush looked exactly the same in the dim light of the setting sun. After having a small internal crisis, you glanced back at the spider to see that it was still in the spot you left it, almost like it was watching you.

"So ah, I don't suppose you would know which way I was heading, do you? Or maybe the way back to my camp?" You said, laughing a little at how dumb you must have looked. The spiders stared at you, and after sitting there for what seemed like hours, it wiggled its front fangs, the way the spider moved them made it look like it was giving you its own confirmation to your question. It quickly moved down the tree and to the ground, from there it went past you and further into the forest, with nothing else to lose you quickly hurried after it.

It didn't take long to realize that following the spider into the creepy dark forest was a mistake, you found yourself standing at the mouth of a large cave, and a weird smell was coming from the inside of it. The spider had run inside but without any light, you did not plan on chasing it, you may have been dumb enough to follow a spider, but you weren't dumb enough to run blindly into a dark cave, the little guy could be poisonous for all you know, and just looking into the pitch black cave made you freeze up in fear. It almost felt like something was watching you, but you always felt like that in the dark. After a moment of thought, you reached back and pulled the flashlight out of your bag, you aimed at the cave and what you saw made your heart stop. The entire cave was covered in spider webs, hundreds of spiders crawled over them, some bigger then your little friend, others were small tiny things that were barely see-able. There were so many webs blocking the opening that you could barely see the back of the cave, but after staring into the cave for what seemed like hours you swear that you could see something large moving behind the webs, you couldn't see it clearly, but it was way larger than the little friend that led you here.

A loud nervous laugh escaped your throat, you clicked off the flashlight and slowly started to back walk to the trees. "I am sorry for bothering y-you, I-I'll just go now." You nervously called out to no one. Once you felt your back push up against a tree you quickly turned and blindly ran back into the thick trees.

You ignored the burning feeling in your legs and feet as you ran, you tripped over rocks and roots but you jumped back up every time and kept running. After a while you saw lights moving through the trees in front of you, and a voice loudly screaming your name, you sped up until you broke through the row of trees separating you from the lights and slammed right into the a hard mass, throwing both of you to the ground and knocking the wind out of you.

You looked down to see that the light was actually your boyfriend waving a flashlight around while screaming your name. He stared up at you in shock and relief, but that was quickly replaced with anger, "What the hell were you thinking!" He yelled as he got up, pulling you up with him. "You take off, with no word, no note, no text! You don't even tell us you're going anywhere, you just disappear for hours and get us all worked up! 7 hours Tegan! That's how long you have been gone!" He grabbed your arm and started pulling you along as he walked towards the direction you assumed was the camp.

You followed him quietly, too shocked and tired to argue back on how much of an asshole he was being, were you not the one being ignored by everyone this morning? Or did no one even notice when they were ignoring you? Once you reached the camp you saw Levi and Kat sitting by the fire, they were both avoiding eye contact with you, and you didn't blame them with how loud Rune was yelling.

After Rune finished letting off steam everyone sat down around the fire to eat. It was around 11 pm and Kat had heated up hot dogs and chili using the cooking equipment you had bought with you, she sat down next to you as you ate, while the guys headed to their own tents to turn in for the night.

Kat bumped her shoulder against yours and gave you a comforting smile, "I know Rune seemed pretty pissed, but you shouldn't let him make you feel bad for going on that hike. Honestly, he didn't even notice that you had left until we got hungry." You rested your head against her shoulder and let out a small laugh, "I'm not really surprised, he doesn't really pay much attention to me at this point."

"You know.." Kat started "You two don't seem as happy as you use to be, I know it's been a few years since you guys got together in high school, but are you guys even happy anymore?"

You lifted your head and looked towards the lake in thought. "I don't know honestly. It's hard to say I guess, I know that." You took a pause to think of the words. "I know that relationships don't stay in the honeymoon phase forever, that the affection slowly stops as you get comfortable with each other because your just use to each other, but I also know that it's hard to distinguish when you are with someone because you are used to being with them, or because they still make you happy."

"And which are you? Are you with Rune because you are happy, or because you are used to it?" Kat asked you

You pursed your lips, then turned to look at her. "Honestly, I couldn't tell you."

Kat chose that moment to change the subject, she started asking you about your adventure in the forest as you both started to clean up. You didn't mention the spiders or the cave, you didn't really remember how far it was but you don't think anyone would like knowing that your camp was so close to a cave filled with big spiders. That, and Rune would absolutely flip his shit if he found out what happened on your hike, you were already tired of getting yelled at.

Once you both finished cleaning Kat joined Levi in their tent, but you decided to stay outside for a while longer, mostly to avoid seeing Rune, you could see the light of his phone through the tent and figured it would be best to wait until he fell asleep.

You pulled your jacket closer around you and started walking toward the dock on the lake, you wanted to get further away from the feeling you've had. You've been trying to ignore it, but ever since you got back to camp you have felt the hair on the back of your neck standing on end, you've tried to convince yourself its just your fear of the dark that is scaring you, but when you look back at the trees you can feel eyes watching you, ever since you ran from that cave, you know something has been watching you.


	2. Day 2, Tegan and Kat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is being posted so late! I ended up getting sick twice, and then my laptop and my phone broke, but ive been working on this at my job and was able to finish it! Hope you enjoy it! I actually listen to music while i work to help me plan out the stories, if you are interested in what songs i used for this chapter it would be Run Wild, Young Beautiful by Hotel Books and Two Beers In by Free Throw.

__

_My lungs are burning, why does my body feels so heavy when it feels like I'm floating? I can't breathe, I need to breathe but I can't open my mouth, the air around me is burning my nostrils. When I open my eyes I only see a murky green, I can't hold my breath anymore, my lungs are hurting, I opened my mouth to breath but the taste of dirt fills my mouth. I'm choking, water is filling my mouth, am I in the lake? Who put me in the lake?_

_I feel them now, how did I not notice them before? They are all over me, I can feel their legs, hundreds of them crawling on me and under my clothes. I can't move my arms, are they holding me down? Or is my body weak? I don't know, but I can feel them._

Your eyes flew open and you greedily gasped for breath, you were having a nightmare and you had stopped breathing in your sleep. You sat up and rubbed the sleep from your eyes, glancing over to Rune you saw that he was still knocked out, wrapped in his own sleeping bag like a cocoon and laying as far from you as he could get in the little tent. He was most likely still going to be upset with you today, so you quietly grabbed your night bag from the corner and slipped out.

Once you got outside you put your arms up in the air and stretched out, you felt your back, arms, and legs pop in different places. Your back was stiff from sleeping on the ground and the pain in your legs made you feel like your calves were cramping up. While walking over to sit on the tree stump by the snuffed out fire you felt you right knee pop with every step, pulling off your socks you saw you had blisters on the balls of your feet, the hike had taken a little more out of you then you thought.

Slipping on some sandals, you grabbed your bag and a 2-gallon jug of water from the pile of stuff by your tent. You wandered into the forest to find a nice place to clean off the dirt stuck on your body. You tried not to go too far in, only walking until you found a tree with a branch you could wedge the jug onto so it would pour over your head. Once you found one you undressed and set your bag down away from the makeshift shower. Pulling your phone, soap, washcloth, and shampoo out from your bag you started to play music to fill the silence.

'Two beers in, already feels like it's one of those nights to forget. The more that I drink, the more that I feel broken and alone. At a party with friends.' You smiled as you sang along with the song, listening to sad or angry songs when you and Rune fought always made you happy again, they made you giggle when you could really relate to them.

As the song continued to play you twisted the little faucet on the jug so the water would pour down, you tried to wet your hair the best you could, then you slathered it with shampoo and tried to wash it from your hair and face quickly. Having your eyes closed while you did this made you feel on edge, you felt a cold chill run down your spine, it felt like someone was watching you again but you didn't know if someone was really there or if your mind was playing tricks on you while you couldn't open your eyes.

Once you finished washing your hair you turned off the faucet on the jug and turned to look around you. Wrapping your arms around your chest you started to slowly walk towards the bushes behind you, you swear you can see something there, an outline of something standing just right behind the bush. You reached out slowly to move it out of the way, "I-is someone there-"

"Yeah, I'm here." You heard from behind you.

"JESUS!" You spun around to see Rune leaning against the tree you were using for a shower. "What is wrong with you! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

His face was fixed in a deep scowl as he stared at you, his dirty blond hair was still messy from sleep, and he was still in his black pajama pants and a loose grey shirt that had an alien head over his heart.

His eyes roamed over you, "I woke up and saw that you weren't there, I thought you might be trying to do another disappearing act on me," he walked over to your phone and paused the music, "but I could hear that screeching you call singing all the way from camp, figured you weren't far."

You walked back over to the tree, picking up and wetting the washcloth, you started to clean the dirt off your body. "One, please turn around, I know you've seen it all before but it feels weird to be watched while showering. Two, I did not just 'disappear' yesterday, we were supposed to go hiking, that was the big plan that we talked about all morning and I waited for everyone to get ready but all you guys did was sit and ignore me."

Rune glared down at you, and reached up and flicked off the water to stop you. "Are you serious? When the hell have you ever wanted to go hiking? I'm sorry that I thought you didn't want to go, you never even want to leave the house! You didn't even want to come on this trip, I practically had to drag you here so why the hell are you mad about me not hiking with you?"

Unable to hold back, you threw the cloth at him, smacking against his chest. "Exactly! I didn't want to come! I told you over and over again that I didn't want to come, nor did I have time to do this stupid idea of a double date! I had things to do, I had work and plans for this week! But do you ever listen to me? No, you just do it and you expect me to go along with whatever you want."

You turned your back and reached for your backpack, pulling out underwear, a pair of dark green shorts, and a plain black muscle shirt you started to get dressed, and as you did you heard Rune yank the jug of water from the tree.

He took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke, "I brought us out here to fixed things between us Tegan, you haven't been the same since we graduated. You had all these plans to go to college and make comics, and you use to do so many things to achieve that goal, but now all you do is work and stay home. I just miss the girl I fell in love with.'

Your face was hot with anger, putting down your bag, you walked over to him to stare him in the eye. "Don't lie to me Rune, this was all about having a week with your friend so you could play cards while I was kept busy with Kat, and not bothering you about getting a job or helping me pay bills." You crossed your arms over your chest, tears welling up in your eyes. "Maybe if I didn't have to support you I could go to college! And maybe I would draw again if I wasn't stuck being your mother. Do you really want to fix things? Then grow up and take some responsibility. Talk to me like an adult you are, and not the child you still pretend to be."

Rune's face flush red, he reached out and grabbed your arm roughly but before he could say anything else, a loud snap came from the bushes behind you. You both froze, he looked up towards the sound and you took that moment to yank your arm back and stepped away from him.

"We can continue this conversation when we go home Rune." As you said, you looked down to hide the tears welling up in your eyes.

He looked back at you and stared you down for a moment, you could tell he was debating on saying something, but in the end, he just turned and stomped back to camp.

Once you saw his back disappear, you stopped holding back your tears, you wanted to scream at him and let out everything building up inside you, but its pointless to be angry at someone who can't see when they are in the wrong.

You went back for your bag, but as you picked it up you heard something fall from it. Looking at it from the ground it looked like a plain rock, but when you picked it up and flipped it you saw it was a geode. It was about the size of your palm and the inside was a beautiful bright purple, and the hole was almost shaped like a heart. You loved it.

You looked up at the big bush your bag was next to, you didn't feel like you were being watched now, but you knew whoever had been there while you showered had left this for you and they were also probably the one who interrupted your fight with Rune.

"Um, thank you for this, I really love it." Your anger faded as stood there waiting for them to reply, but after none came you reluctantly walked back to camp.

~

It was the middle of the afternoon now, it had been pretty awkward when you got back to camp, Kat and Levi's silence had made it pretty obvious that you and Rune didn't use your inside voices during your little spat. Speaking of Rune, he had been ignoring you all day, he even swapped tents with Kat to avoid you tonight.

Kat had made chorizo and egg while you were gone, it made you feel bad because it was your job to cook the meals on this trip, but you appreciated that she was helping you out.

While Rune was swimming with Levi at the lake, Kat packed up your packs to go on another hike. She was still excited from hearing the story of your adventure yesterday and wanted to explore more of the forest with you. Deciding this was the best excuse to get away, you rubbed icy hot on your legs, knotted up your boots, and walked off with her in a different direction than the one from yesterday.

She glanced at you as you guys walked together, putting her hand in yours, she gave you a small smile. "You know Tegan, I think Rune needed to hear what you said to him this morning."

You gave her hand a light squeeze but kept your eyes forward, "Let's not talk about that now, right now its girl time." She smiled and nodded at you, slowly letting go of your hand as you both continued to walk further from camp.

After a few hours of aimlessly walking around, you started to hear the sound of rushing water from ahead of you. Kat sped past you to get a closer look and you quickened your pace to catch up with her, doing your best to ignore the pain from your sore legs. When you finally caught up you saw that you guys had found river rapids, with large rocks peering out from the top of the water.

Looking over at Kat, you saw that she had already removed her shoes and was stepping in to enjoy the water, as she walked further in you saw that it was deep enough to meet her upper thigh. She turned to you with a bright smile, "The water feels amazing! Come join me Tegan!" You smiled at her, but for some reason the thought of stepping into the river made your heart jump into your throat, so you shook your head to decline her offer.

You watched her splash in the water for a while, but once she took out her phone and started taking pictures you turned and walked a little more down the river, watching as the rapids got deeper and faster until you couldn't see the bottom very well.

Once you found a large flat rock close to the water you sat down to rest and rub more icy hot on your legs, they had hurt a lot when you woke up today but after this walk, they went from just feeling sore to feeling weak and heavy.

Stretching them out in front of you, you reached into your bag to get your water and after drinking some to cool down you looked back at Kat but she was no longer playing in the water. Quickly standing up, you looked around frantically until you spotted her pack and shoes on the other side of the river, but she wasn't with them. Figuring she must have crossed over to explore, you decide it would be best to grab her and turn back before it got too dark.

You called for her a few times but she never appeared, she most likely couldn't hear you over the loud sound of the rapids. After a while of waiting you knew you had no choice, you were going to have to cross over to go get her. Slipping off your bag you stepped into the river and flinched at how cold the water felt. Ignoring the cold, you started to cross the river but the water was deeper where you were, every step you took raised the water until it reached over your chest.

Your water-soaked shoes made your feet feel heavier to lift, almost like the water was trying to hold you down and the rapids were pushing you forward, sliding you further down the river until the water came up to your chin. You had almost made it halfway across the water when it happened, the force of the water was too much, and your legs were too weak to hold you. It had happened so quickly that you hadn't realized you had gone under until you were swallowing a mouth full of water, you tried to kick your body up out of the water but your legs felt too heavy to move, almost like someone was holding them down. You tried trashing your arms around but you couldn't tell which way was up or down, something in the back of your mind told you to follow your air bubbles upwards, but you had no air to let out. Unconsciously, you tried to breathe in through your nose, the water you sucked up burned your nostrils and your body tried to cough it up, resulting in you swallowing more water.

You didn't know how long you've been under, but you were starting to feel dizzy, your lungs screamed in pain and your stomach felt like it was going to start heaving up the water. Suddenly something slammed unto your head, and you could feel a sharp pain on the back of your scalp. Your vision was going black, and right as you gave up you felt something hook under your arms and yank you up out of the water, but your head was so hazy, it felt like a dream.

Suddenly you were coughing up water, you were sitting on a patch of grass, and you could feel a pain in your chest like someone had been hitting you there. You could feel throbbing in the back of your head, but when you reached up to touch it someone gently grabbed your hand to stop you. You didn't realize it before, but someone had their right arm over your back to hold you in a sitting position, their another arm was still holding on to your hand, they were holding you close against them.

You looked up and saw that it was a man, he was staring at you with unnaturally dark eyes filled with worry, they were framed by a pale white face, and long wet white hair that was clinging to his skin. This may be the concussion talking, but he looked like an angel, your guardian angel? Did you die? If all angels look that this, then maybe dying wasn't so bad.

His mouth was moving, was he telling you something? You wanted to know what an angel sounds like, but you couldn't hear him. The throbbing in the back of your had head was so bad, the pain was making you dizzy, and before you could reply to him everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had originally written Tegan and Runes fight as Rune being more timid and apologetic, but that wasnt really Runes character so i re-wrote it so they would be angry at each other. I might explain why they have more problems later, if you guys are interested in that.


	3. Day 2, Levi and Rune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi finally confronts Rune about his crumpling relationship with Tegan and he learns that his friend isnt who he thought he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys can thank my boyfriend for repeatedly asking me to finish this everyday, for real, his birthday was last week and his wish was for me to finish this.

The sun was already starting to go down as Rune and Levi were sitting on the dock by their campsite, lukewarm drinks in their hands and their feet soaking in the lake water. Rune kept tossing his empty cans into the lake, causing Levi to scowl at him and jump in to pick them up while Rune laughed.

They seemed like they were having fun, but for the last two hours, Levi has been attempting to get Rune to open up to him about what's going on with him and Tegan. He hadn't been very successful, Rune always seemed to find the best way to change the subject on him and Levi was starting to get sick of it.

Levi hoped that Kat was having more luck with getting Tegan to open up, but he highly doubted it with how emotionless she's looked lately. It really unnerved him to see such a blank dead look in her eye, like she wasn't even the same loud, fun-loving, outgoing person they knew in high school. Levi could still remember the day she bounced right up to the three of them during their lunch hour, she had sat right on top of their table and joined into the conversation like they were all friends who had known each other for years. After that day Levi could see a change in Rune, his usual shy, quiet, and nerdy best friend started to gravitate to Tegan. Rune would sit quietly next to her and listen to her joke and laugh with the people around her, but as time went on Rune started to join in, and after a year Rune had completely changed, his nerdy style and timid demeanor had turned in to a loud, edgy kid who skated boarded on weekends instead of his usual studying.

It wasn't long after that that Rune and Tegan started dating, their bright bubbly personalities could light up any room they were in and being near them was like seeing human personifications of happiness. They seemed like they were a pretty perfect couple, always together, it was weird to see one without the other, and Rune seems to pick up any and all interest Tegan had, almost to the point of being obsessed with them. While Rune started to become a copy of Tegan, Tegan would bend over backward for Rune. She'd bring a homemade lunch for him every day, paint and draw him, make friends for him, take him on out of town trips with her family, and even paint personal designs on the bottom of his skateboard. Everyone was so distracted by their smiles that no one noticed when the light in Tegan's eyes started to dim, and as more time passed she talked less and less, by senior year she was only seen as the weirdly quiet girlfriend of the loudest kid in school.

Thinking back on all this made guilt swell up in Levi's chest, it brought back memories of the fight he had accidentally walked in on. He has shown up unannounced to their place, and as soon as Levi walked through the front door he heard the gross sobbing of Tegan coming from the other room as Rune screamed that everything he did was her fault because she didn't love him enough, that if she did he wouldn't have to find love it somewhere else. The anger in his once meek and shy best friend shot fear through his body, to scared to hear anymore, Levi ran like a coward. He never mentioned it to them, nor did he bother telling Kat what he had heard, and he never tried to help Tegan, how could he? Yeah, it hurt to hear a friend being hurt by his own best friend, but that was Rune, the guy who cried when someone got mad at him and had a panic attack when his mom caught him sneaking into the house an hour passed his curfew. How could he rat out someone like that?

Levi was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by Rune standing up next to him, before Rune could walk away Levi reached out and grabbed his forearm to stop him.

"Dude, I know you're avoiding the subject, but we need to talk about what's been going on with you two." As those words left Levi's mouth, a dark look came over Rune's face, it was like a flip was switched inside him and his best friend disappeared for a moment, but that face was quickly replaced with Rune's usual playful smirk. 

"Err... I don't think we really have anything to talk about, nor is my relationship any of your business just because we're friends." Rune said, his voice sounded fake, like he was hiding his anger under a light playful tone. Rune roughly pulled his arm from Levi's hand and started to walk towards a backpack by the fire pit. Levi quickly followed after Rune as he continued on. "Every couple has their own problems and it's not like you and Kat don't have your fair share of fights, some have even been in front of me but you don't see me trying to get in your guys face about it." 

Levi clenched his hands into fists and shoved them into his pockets, hoping it would prevent him from punching out his best friend. "OK one, I know its not my place, but im worried about you because your my best friend and you have not been yourself lately, two, I have never screamed at or degraded Kat when we argued as you do with Tegan." Levi watched as Rune dropped the bag he was rummaging through, he turned and glared at Levi. 

"I don't degrade Tegan." Rune spit out through clenched teeth, he looked livid at the accusation and it almost made Levi back out of having this conversation, but he knew that it had to be done, he had been ignoring it for too long. 

"You can lie to yourself all you want if that's what makes you feel better, but I'm not stupid, the whole car drive here you kept making snide remarks whenever Tegan got too loud, talked too much, or looked like she was having fun. We brushed it off cause we thought you guys just had a fight, but you've been doing that to her the whole time we've been here. You even lied to her face about the hiking trip this morning and you sounded like you were trying to make her feel bad when you were the one who told me, that she changed her mind and didn't want to go anymore."

Rune whipped around to look Levi in the eye, his face was flushed red from anger and his shoulders were shaking slightly. "So what! Maybe I just didn't want to go? We just drove eight hours to get here, hiked for two, then we get here and set everything up while the girls just sat and chilled? Can we not take a break?" Rune scoffed and turned his back to Levi, picking up the lighter fluid and angrily squeezing it onto the fire pit. 

Levi yanked the bottle from him, throwing it to the side, he grabbed both of Rune's shoulders and shook him slightly. "No! I drove eight hours here and you slept and hogged the radio, Tegan spent all night finding the quickest route to the camp, and she packed up everything that we would need. All you did to help set up the camp was sit on the sidelines and read me the instructions to the tent."

Levi let go of Rune and stepped away from him, ignoring the shocked look on Rune's face he continued to speak his peace. "Tegan can rest all she wants on this trip, she deserves a break from babysitting you. She cooks, cleans, and skipped college to works at a dead-end, minimum wage job so you can go to school and fuck around and you still treat her like shit after all she's done for you." 

Rune scoffed and rolled his eyes, "That bitch has never done anything for me! She doesn't work at the bar to support me, she just loves the attention she gets from all of those drunk idiots! And why would she go to college? She was just going to go for art, she already knows how to draw and it's not like she was going to learn anything new! It would have been a waste of money and time, plus she'd just get her hopes up that she can make a living being a painter, she's not even that good at it and learning that herself would have just broken her heart. Is better that she never tried in the first place to spare her from that."

Sometime during his rant, Rune had started jabbing his finger into Levi's chest, but Levi was too shocked at what Rune was saying to really feel the pain of his finger digging into his skin. It stunned him that the sweet kid he had known for so long was being this selfish to someone who supported him. He didn't realize how angry Runes actions had made him this weekend because the next thing he knew, Rune was laying on the ground with a shocked expression on his face, one hand caressing his red cheek, and Levi felt a sharp pain shooting through his right hand. 

It felt like time had stopped as both boys stared at each other, Rune was waiting for Levi to continue his assult on him, and Levi waited for Rune to jump up and get him back. After a few moments of silence passed Levi reached his hand out to Rune to help him up, but Rune brushed him off and relaxed against the ground, laying his head back so he could stare up at the stars. Levi stood unsure for a moment but then moved to sit on the ground next to him, slowly he reached over and took his friends hand into his. "Why are you really being like this to her Rune? You'd never put up with people treating others this way before, so why are you doing it now?" Levi stared but Rune stayed quiet, he was trying to work up the courage to speak but his throat started to tighten at the thought of sharing the thoughts he knew were wrong. 

"I think I really hate her Levi, or maybe i just resent her? God i cant tell anymore." Rune draped his arm across his eyes, squeezing them closed as he tried to sort through his thoughts. "When we got together i was so happy, she was great and my life got so much better and i felt better as a person. All her friends were so nice to me and then eventually it started to feel like i wasn't just 'Tegan's boyfriend', i was their friend too." 

Levi nodded along and gestured to Rune to keep going, his gesture was ignored due to Rune keeping his eyes squeezed shut. Levi thought that Rune almost looked embarrassed, like it hurt him to say this out loud. 

"One day i was texting some of our friends but no one replied, it had been all day without a respond so i looked at Facebook to see if they maybe posted anything about being busy, but then i saw a group photo of all of them out together, and even Tegan was there with them looking like she was having the time of her life without me." Rune took a deep breath, his hands balled up into fist as he thought back on the photo."I-I got really jealous, b-but not because Tegan was there, but because they would rather spend time with her instead of m-me. Why? They always said that me and her were like the same person, why wouldn't they invite me too? Half of them didn't even have me on Facebook, I only had like 100 friends and Tegan had 900, if we were so much alike why wouldn't they want to be my friend to and invite me places?"

Levi unconsciously started to lean away from him, his voice sounded weird, it was tight and strained. It actually sounded like Rune was only talking to himself with how quietly he started to mutter, almost like he was crazy.. or obsessed. 

"So when she came to my house the next day I told her how left out I felt, and you know what she said? She said that she was sorry, but its healthy to spend time away from each other and that she thought i was going to be with you and Kat. Can you believe that? When you start dating someone you date so that you can actually BE together, not abandon them or make them feel left out! So i got upset and i unloaded everything that bothered me, that her friends didn't invite me places, that they liked her post more then mine, that random people would just end up as her friend within seconds of meeting her, and that she was more popular and got more attention and it made me feel like i wasn't enough for her. You know what she did? She gave up on making new friends, and even gave up on her current friends. She focused on me to the point were she didn't even paint or read anymore, she cooked, cleaned, and worked. After a few years those friends of hers that ignored me started to ignore her because she wasn't the same person and i loved it because she relied on them so much only to see that they would drop her in seconds. They are my friends now, and only mine. After a while, all she had was me and she depend on me to give her the last bit of human connection she could have, it made me sick to see someone who was so outgoing and loving be so weak and clingy. I hated it and i resented being around her, how dare she give up so easily." 

A chilling grin spreed across Runes face, he let out a soft chuckle and it made alarm bells go off in Levi's head. Honestly, Levi started to feel sick because everything was starting to make sense, Tegan became quiet in high school because Rune forced her, she prioritized Rune over everyone else and it killed who she was. Levi didn't know what to say, he was at a loss for words because the guy laying next to him wasn't his childhood friend anymore, he was a abuser and Levi had known it all along and he had just turned a blind eye to someone who needed his help all these years. 

Rune was still talking, but Levi couldn't hear him over his pounding heart beat and the blood rushing through his ears. Based on the sick grin still on Runes face, Levi didn't even want to know what he was still saying about Tegan. Guilt was eating away at him, he could have helped Tegan years ago, or even on that day he walked in on them fighting but he left her in that situation alone because he choose his friend over what was right.

Levi was shocked, he knew he had to say something but his voice died in his throat every time he tried to cut Rune off, how do you begin to tell someone who saw themselves as the victim that they were the abuser? Luckily, he didn't have to interrupt his friend because they were interrupted by a light coming from the woods. It was moving around frantically like the holder was running as fast as they could, and after a moment they could here their names being screamed by Kat. They both jumped up and ran towards the light, meeting Kat as she entered the camp ground, her hair was matted and clumpy, her clothes looked slightly damp and she was speaking so quickly and out of breath that they couldn't understand her.

Levi quickly pulled her close to his chest and held her, his pretty sure they both needed to be held right now. He gently rubbed her head and whispered comforts to her to try to get her to breath normally, after a moment she pulled away from him and said something that made their blood run cold. 

Tegan fell into the river, she was missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was really hard to write because im really reflecting some things that happened in the past to me on Rune, he is kind of a real person, the fight with Rune and Levi is actually a real fight i had in with the person expect less extreme. This is me trying to cope what i went though by writing him here. There is more to their story, Rune did a lot more shitty things and you find out later. BUT! Next chapter is when you meet the real main character of this story so let me tell you what everyone full names are.
> 
> Tegan Desiree Vasquez  
> Rune Dez Conners  
> Levi Michel Jensen  
> Katia Marie Leblanc (Kat)
> 
> Youll learn spider boys name in the next chapter.


	4. Give me a week

Its been a while, I know! Honestly a lot has happened since I had to go on a break and it inspired a new story.. well I have worked out my issues on my breakup and I'm continuing to work on this story now. I've had inspiration to take it in a new direction and I hope you guys like what I'll be putting out in a week.


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